My Ontario fish quest continues....

[007]

Hi all.

 

Went for a picnic with my wife in High Park in Toronto today and managed to sneek off with my shakespeare travel telescopic rod to get a few hours of fishing at Grenadier Pond while she sunbathed. Had a really enjoyable couple of hours catching fish on light tackle - float with worm or small grub jigs. I arrived at the pond to see that the water lilies had started to emerge, so I guessed there might be a few fish near the cover, so targetted these areas first. I remembered that last year I had caught quite a few Bluegills and Black Crappie in early June so was looking forward to adding those species to the list of fish caught this year as part of my quest to catch as many of Ontario's species in the year.

 

Unfortunately fishing was slow to begin with. I think due to the high and hot sun in the early afternoon. Caught a few small Bluegills to begin with, but seemed to be missing most of the bites. So i experimented with berkely micro wrigglers but had no joy so changed to a smaller hook with a small piece of worm. I also started to cast further out into open water. Started to get more bites and hook-ups. The bluegills seemed to be roaming aroud in shoals - one minute there would be lots of bites then nothing for a while. I wish I could find somewhere that sells maggots cos then I would fish the way I used to in the UK by throwing in a few maggots in the area around my float in order to keep the fish in my area rather than them constantly moving around. Catching the bluegills was fun - considering their size there pretty feisty.

 

I was a bit disappointed that I didn't hook into any Crappie - must have been too hot for them in the shallows and they were deeper. Maybe later in the week I'll head back for some to add to the list. Just as I was thinking of giving up for the day I hooked into something different - it wasn't a sunfish, it behaved more like a bass, jumping out of the water as I reeled it in. Much to my surprise and delight it was a White Perch - not very big but I was happy as it was a species I hadn't ever caught before and another off the long list to catch!

 

Species caught so far this year = Yellow Perch, White Sucker, Brown Bullhead, Pumpkinseedfish, Rock Bass, Bluegill, White Perch, Common Shiner, Golden Shiner, Creek Chub, and Lake Chub. Oh and Largemouth Bass (caught a couple of 3 pounders last week) but I didn't want to post pics and I'm not really counting it until I catch one in season LOL

 

Here's a few pics of my day and some of the fish. Was a fun day, but am really looking forward to catching some bigger fish soon.

 

Cheers

007

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 3, 2007 by OO7

[007]

White perch pics added!

[ccmtcanada]

Hey there 007! I remember when you first mentioned your quest for the year and I have enjoyed all your reports to date! Congrats on your first ever white perch...I've never caught one of those myself. Looking forward to your next outing and report....and hoping you are able to cross another off your list of target species for the year!

[Dutch]

Congrats on your first white perch...great report

[Mike the Pike]

Nice litlle report while the wife tans her hide.

 

MTP

[007]

CCMTCanada - Thanks for the support - Hopefully there will be another new fish species in the next report - seem to be getting one every 2 weeks! Can't wait to catch some big ones though - I seem to be going through all the small species first LOL

 

Mike the Pike - LOL

[MJL]

Great report 007

 

That white perch sure is one nifty looking fish. I've only managed to catch a couple of those in the past by accident.

 

I'm sure you'll get your carp to cross off the list.

[easton13th]

Keep crossing off that list! I am sure you are having a blast along your quest.

 

Easton

[lunkerbasshunter]

nice report looks like a fun day

 

cheers!

[tbayboy]

Never even seen one of those before, very cool. Thanks for sharing and good luck on the quest.